The invention relates to an electroluminescent element having a layered and/or planar electrode arrangement, which, upon application of a suitable supply voltage, can be made to emit light, and to the method of manufacturing and the application of said electroluminescent element.
The manufacture of electroluminescent elements having a so-called planar electrode arrangement is known from DE 19 34 946, DE 38 02 318 and 38 02 317. However, the manufacture of planar electrode arrangements as described in said documents has a number of serious drawbacks relative to the layered electrode arrangement (known from DE 40 23 693), so that at present there are no such planar elements on the market.
In this connection, for example, the developing electric field and hence the attainable brightness of the luminous element, generated by the luminous power of the luminescent pigments in an electroluminescent layer, are governed to a substantial degree by the distance between the electrodes. Technically, and above all economically, limits are set to the manufacture of a large number of parallel conductor tracks having a small interspace. The distance between electrodes arranged in a layered structure is typically less than half that of electrodes arranged in accordance with the planar technology. To compensate for this drawback of the planar structure, it is necessary to increase the electric field, which leads to additional expenditure on insulation.